Marathon Training Week 3 - 8-26 to 9-1

Last week was low on the mileage scale for running, mainly due to the big bike ride on Saturday (big for me, anyway).  This week?  Should be higher, and although I'm going to miss the Schonning race on Wednesday, I definitely want to get some good mileage in.  Big milestones last week, though, posted some solid numbers...

Monday, 8-26 - 0 Miles - Lori's off all week, so we're doing birthday stuff and getting Sophia ready for her first day of middle school on Wednesday.  Big week, but I'll get my miles in...

Tuesday, 8-27 - 7.5 Miles - I wanted to check out the new Hangman Hill Preserve that I mentioned in my previous post, so I headed up there.  Probably should have gone earlier or later, because it's humid out there!  Got to the preserve, only to realize that the "trails" are nonexistent.  New preserve, so right now the blazes are more or less marking the entrance to the woods...it looks like it's small, but set on a pretty steep hill, so I'm looking forward to seeing it take shape...



Wednesday, 8-28 - Wife's birthday + daughter's first day of middle school = 0 Miles...

Thursday, 8-29 - 0 Miles.  Went to Federal Hill and had lunch at Venda Ravioli.  One of our favorite places, and we were able to get seated inside.  Ate probably one of the best lunches we've ever had, then did some shopping for assorted meats, cheeses, oils and fresh pasta.  Great day filled with great Italian food!

Picking out meat for a gravy...

Friday, 8-30 - 15 Miles (Roads) - Run to Hopkinton, down to Ashaway, and back to the house.  Two zero days and my legs felt pretty good.  I filled the CamelBak, stowed a couple gels and headed out.  Scoped out a dirt road near me that goes all the way to the CT/RI border (of course Muddy already has a segment on it...).  Cruised down to the 'Schway, then looped back to the house by way of Boombridge and Hangman Hill.  Good hills, and at a bit slower than the marathon pace I want to maintain at Nipmuck.

Saturday, 8-31 - 3-ish miles (Trails) - Green Falls Pond Loop.  I have a monster blister on the instep of my left foot from yesterday's run, and decided to hit Green Falls to see if I could help it along...feels very pinchy and filled with liquid, and sure as Hell didn't pop, in spite of the terrain.  I made the run from the road to the dam at a really good clip, scrambled to the top of the dam and as I paused my GPS, realized the signal had been dropped at the beginning of the run.  Shit.  Not that I'd taken the CR for the segment, but it would have been my CR by about 30 seconds...ah well, technology, you cruel bitch mistress...



Sunday, 9-1 - 4 Miles (Trail/Some Road) - Lantern Hill fun.  Felt like a sauna out there today, and I was soaked pretty quick.  Good, hearty technical trail run with very steep grades (20% or higher in places), and perfect for Nipmuck training.  Not a long run, but a seriously good workout.  Finishes on the road on a downhill.  This was my go-to trail last year for training, I think I'll be hitting it more often in the coming weeks...

Marathon Training Week 2 (And Battle of Stonington!): Week of 8-19 to 8-25

Battle of Stonington week!  I've done this race the last three years.  My results are as follows:

2010 - 103/169, 25:39 @ 8:16
2011 - 102/176, 26:15 @ 8:28
2012 - 92/244, 24:01 @ 7:45

As I'm now on the edge of a sub-7 average pace for a 5K, I'm looking forward to this race.  I did take a pretty good spill running trails yesterday and my knee is hurting a bit (blood and bruises, yo), but I've got PR's to set, dammit!  That, and some kid from Mystic and his friend (who, incidentally, appear to be gearing up for Nipmuck) came out to my town and took my Cossaduck Hill CR by six seconds, so I have to go get that back as well...

This applies to trail obstacles and segment thieves alike...

Side note:  since I seem to be running at Green Falls a LOT lately, I created a segment for the section from the parking area below the dam, to the top of the dam itself...ladies and gents, the CR automatically went to Jonny Miles (with the Gazelle in 2nd), so game on and go get some, it ain't an easy piece of real estate...

Monday, 8-19 - 0 Miles.  Job interview (gasp!) with New Balance... - More to follow if I get the gig...and I needed a zero after this past weekend, and also going into the BOS tomorrow and some solid plans for the latter part of this week....

Tuesday, 8-20 - 5 Miles (Road) - Warmup, cooldown, and the Battle of Stonington 5K.  Results?  Officially 22:02 @ 7:05 pace, 48th of almost 300?  I started my warmup alone, and ended up running into a large chunk of the WTAC crew.  Great turnout by the WTAC, we had 15+ members at the race???

This is the final event in the Borough Fun Run series, and my fourth time running it.  Awesome job by Stephen and Heather Bessette putting on the series, and this race.  Great, flat course, a two loop tour of the Borough.  Chatted with fellow WTAC'ers before the race, and shared a few words with quite a few other runners, some of whom came down to spectate and cheer.  Cool scene we have here!  My nephew Tristan, fresh off his Tough Mudder race, even came down for the BOS and PR'd by 2 seconds...

My race started with me reaching to tap record on my running app, and exiting out of said app right when the gun went off, and trying to get it started again in the first few yards of the race.  Another argument for a Garmin...my splits were close to even, but slightly slower mile over mile?  Definitely felt the added miles from last week, but powered through to a near-PR.  Great results by the crew (PR by Jonny Eckel?), and lots of wine was won by the over 21 crowd!  After a quick cooldown and shirt change, headed over to the "Dog Pound," the back deck at Dogwatch Cafe, and had a drink with the crew.  Great night...love living here :)

Sunset on the docks

The "Dog Pound," packed and enjoying the evening

So a great time had by all...Muddy Puddin' the Segment Thief was absent this evening due to legs trashed from swiping people's CR's, so he missed out on FREE BEER...sorry, dude, and they were handing out nice bottles of wine to the age group winners...hope that Green Falls segment was worth it, sucka!

Wednesday, 8-21 - 3 Miles (Roads) - Warmup, Cooldown to the car, and 1 Mile final Tom McCoy Family Fun Run. - Well?  I made it to several fun runs, and had a great time at each one.  The kids' run, the 1 miler, the 5K, all fun.  Free event in its third decade of existence, and such a positive atmosphere for everyone involved.  A good way to get the community together weekly for something fun and free at the beach in the summer...there should be more events like this, especially for families on a budget!  My opinion, anyway...

Had to park 1/4 mile away and run to the start, then run a quick warmup loop, as I was still sore from last night's activities and wanted to at least give a PR a shot.  This was a 1 mile run to finish out the season, on a flat course, temp 80-ish?  I lined up in the second row and took off tentatively.  Mike B. had a bet going with his son about the run, so of course Conor took off like a shot, with Mike expecting him to burn out 1/2 mile in (he didn't).  I stayed with Mike and knew I was pushing it, but it's only a mile so I knew it wouldn't last long...the last couple turns, Mike found another gear I simply don't have, and with about 100+ yards to go, Muddy sees me and calls out 5:49?  Huh?  I finished well, I think, although Mike's kick was way out of my league.  Officially I was 6:10, my GPS had me at a 6:04 mile average, so I either shaved 42 or 48 seconds off my 1 mile pace...so that's pretty flippin' awesome.  Either way, now I'm wondering how long a distance I could sustain that pace.  1 mile? 2? 5K???  Start at a 7, then hammer the last mile?  Should be fun finding out.  Cue "Chariots of Fire" slo-mo beach scene here...I'll be the dude in the back, dying and trying to keep up with the other guys in the white shirts :)



After the run?  Trophies for the kids and free ice cream gift cards for the kids, provided by our local Cold Stone Creamery.  Great community involvement with this series, and I'm glad to be a part of it.  I'm standing next to FiveK tonight and he says "Best club I've ever been in."  Agreed 100% here. Next event?  The Roger Schonning 5K in Westerly, which should be awesome...

Thursday, 8-22 - 0 Miles - As I'd planned on spending the day with the kids, and running trails Fri.-Sun., I took a zero today.  I did, however, pull the trigger and registered for the 30th Annual Nipmuck Trail Marathon.  This was my first ever marathon last year, and with shitty training and low miles going into it, I finished but not well?  This year, my miles are way up, training is going great, and I have to beat a 6:15.  I think I've got this...and Seth and Jonny are running!  So there's a WTAC contingent headed up...if I could convince a few other trail-centric dudes to fork over 40 bucks, we'd have quite the showing...

Friday, 8-23 - 6.5 Miles (Trail) - Narragansett Trail from Lantern Hill to Wyassup Lake with Jim H.  Technical as it gets...I'd wanted to run the entire section of trail that I manage for the CFPA, as there were two areas that get pretty overgrown pretty fast.  Fortunately the trail's in good shape, and there are only two trees down on the trail that need to be cleared.  I played the role of Spider Man on this trip, and caught many, many webs to the face and torso.  Only ate one, I think.  There's also a new and active beaver lodge above Yawbux Brook (the reason for one of the downed trees)!  No sightings, though...

Foxwoods from atop Lantern Hill...

Jim coming down the "Lemon Squeezer"

Saturday, 8-24 - 31.5 Miles (Bike) - All over the damn place.  Decided to change things up today.  The girls were going shopping, and I convinced them that I'd be a dark, sulky cloud over their heads if they made me go.  Did I also mention I hate shopping?  I really, really do.  So I took the dog for a nice long walk, then saddled up and hit the road.  Went out to Hangman Hill Road toward the village, and look what just opened 1.5 miles from my house:

Can't wait to check this out, it's right up the street!!!

Tried to take all back roads today, and turning onto Anguilla off 184 I came across this, one of the only Avalonia properties I haven't run:

More trail fun!

Continued down to Greenhaven, crossed into Westerly, and turning toward White Rock I run into Gazelle, who's picking his boy up from soccer practice.  Chat for a bit (he and FiveK did a monster ride this morning), then get back underway.  Made my way out to Boombridge, and headed back to the house.  Great ride, and a perfect day for it - 70s, partly cloudy, and a nice cool breeze...

Sunday, 8-25 - 5.5 Miles (Beach) - High tide beach slog, Misquamicut Beach.  I scrapped my long trail run plans and the girls and I hit the beach today.  Upon arrival, Mrs. B. informed me that Mr. B. was already on his way to do the "Swifty Loop," so I waited a bit and headed out.  Soft sand = good workout.  I'll admit that I was hoping to see Mike headed toward me sooner, as the State beach was very crowded, but I kept going until his familiar stride appeared on the horizon.  Good run, given the crowded beach and tide, and perfect weather.  Mike ended up getting his 10 in, I came up well shy of my weekly total, but I'm stoked because I hit several milestones this week:

1.  Battle of Stonington - Shaved 2 minutes off my time from last year;
2.  Fun Run mile - 6:10, or according to Strava, a 6:04, so I shaved 42 to 48 seconds off my 1 mile PR.
3.  31.5 mile bike ride - My longest ride ever, all continuous, and with 1400+ feet of elevation gain.  Stoked.

Pretty damn good highlights for one week!

Marathon Training Begins: Week of 8-12 to 8-18

So...I haven't put my money down yet, but it looks like I'm in for a marathon this Fall, and the closer it gets, the more I'm leaning toward giving the Nipmuck Trail Marathon another go, and for a couple of reasons:  First, I did it last year so I know exactly what to expect;  second, my miles are way up from last year, and I had no problem banging out 17 miles today on a spur of the moment opportunity, so I'm in a much better place;  and third, last year's time really sucked and I can do loads better than a 6:15!!!  So more than likely it'll be Nipmuck.  And, at 40 bucks, the price is definitely right!

Monday, 8-12 - 17 Miles (Roads) - Hilly long run in NoSto.  My wife decided to work from home today; I wasn't planning on running at all, but when she said "You should go for a run, I'm here to keep an eye on Soph," I geared up and got out the door pretty quick.  I have a bunch of loops of varying distance in my 'hood, but living in the sticks, once you commit to a distance  there's no turning back.  Really good hills, including the Wyassup Death March, and the backside climb to Jonathan Edwards Winery.  I'm a bit sore, but that's a good thing, and I'd argue that it's a testament to the miles we all put on (some more, some less) that a person can go out on a moment's notice and do 17 miles...good day for it, although my CamelBak did go dry 5 miles from the house...might have to do a water drop next time...

Denison Hill Road, Pachaug Forest.  Nice day!

Tuesday, 8-13 - 0 Miles - I actually didn't feel sore today, just didn't (and still don't) have the opportunity to get out for a short run.  Did some pullups, and light weights, stretching, etc...will miss the last Borough Fun Run tonight, but will be on the roster for the Battle of Stonington next week, and the McCoy run tomorrow.  In a fit of restlessness today, I reactivated my resume and applied for a position with New Balance, which I'd of course be perfect for...so there's that as well!

Wednesday, 8-14 - 5 Miles (Trails/Dirt Roads) - Green Falls/Hidden Lake loop.  Gorgeous day.  Mid-70s, partly cloudy, and a nice cool breeze...and deerfly season is almost over!!!  Only got nailed twice today.  When I got to Hidden Lake, I decided to run it counter-clockwise, as Muddy had created a segment for it and I'd never thought to run it that direction (left brain/right brain thing, maybe?).  Seemed harder?  Not sure why, since it starts/finishes at the same point either way.  Great day for a run, though...and negative split the whole thing.  Going to try to make the fun run tonight, if my wife's shindig at Seaside gets set up in enough time.



Thursday, 8-15 - 0 Miles

Friday, 8-16 - 10 Miles (Trail/Dirt Roads) - Exploring at Green Falls.  I'd mapped out a route that included pieces of the Narragansett, Nehantic and Pachaug trails, and started below the dam at my usual spot.  Went up the west side of the pond, and connected with the Nehantic, which was supposed to intersect with a connector trail.  Tough thing about Pachaug State Forest?  Lots of service roads and old unmarked trails cutting across the blazed trail.  Even tougher?  Looks like nobody's been maintaining the Nehantic Trail at all, the trail's a mess, and the blazes haven't been updated in what looks like years.  Still fun, but tricky to get through.  I ended up missing the connector trail and had to double back after going way past it.  Got to the campground (tons of campers!) and did a section of the Pachaug Trail, then headed down through Dinosaur Caves and down the road to the truck.  Interesting note?  Some people camping had, for some inexplicable reason, set up camp directly ON the Narragansett Trail near the pond, in the middle of a very uncomfortable rock garden.  If they'd gone about 50 yards up the trail, there's a clearing/campsite area with benches and a nice fire pit that nobody ever uses, and another one 200 yards past that!  And both sites are just steps away from a gorgeous stream, one with a swimming hole...

The Playground...

All totalled, 32 miles for the week so far...

Saturday, August 17 - 6 Miles (Beach) - Barefoot beach run at low tide, Misquamicut Beach, RI.  Perfect beach day...went out for my usual 5K beach run, and it turned into a 10K...and would have turned into the TS special, but I figured maybe Mike B would lead that expedition tomorrow?  I'll let Tay know to leave a water stop out for us at the turn...Looking for 50 miles now for the week, as I'm at 38 and counting, and it's so close...gradually increasing speed on the back end of this one, despite tight calves, and I finished the run at race pace or better?  Good day, and a cool dip in the Ocean after...love Summer!


12 miles to go for a new benchmark...will I get there?  We shall soon see...

Sunday, 8-18 - 7 Miles (Trails/Dirt Roads) - Green Falls (Part 3 this week) with Gazelle.  The beach got cancelled today due to general cloudiness and potential for rain, so a last-minute decision for a run came up.  Met up at my place at 12:30 and made the short drive to Green Falls, where I was determined to find the connector trail I'd missed the other day.  Found it!  Totally overgrown, and spider webs every 10 feet or so for a good chunk of it.  I think I even ate one.  A good technical set of trails, broken up with a couple of dirt road sections.  Deer fly season is also officially over!!!  This run puts me at 45 miles for the week, and I'll take it...17 road, 6 beach, and 22 at Green Falls gives me my biggest mileage week yet?  And Gazelle got to see some trails in my 'hood!  Below is a link to the playground:

http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/stateparks/maps/pachauggreenfallstrailmap.pdf

6th Annual Bobby Doyle Summer Classic 5K

Did this race two years ago when it was only a 5 mile option, and missed it last year due to a scheduling conflict.  This year I opted for the 5K race, as WTAC teammates Colburn and Jonny were doing that, and I didn't want Colburn to have to stand around waiting for me.  My friend Tim B., whose son is a runner and has been whipping him into shape, heard from me about the 5K and decided to give it a go, and I saw them as soon as Colburn and I got there.  After a short warmup, we lined up and got underway...

I was running in a WTAC singlet with the words "Miles for Madi" inked on the back.  Backstory?  Madi is a fellow member of a Facebook group I'm in called "Running the World," she's a positive and energetic girl who posts videos of what she's doing, running challenges she sets for herself, that kind of thing.  All good stuff.  She had set a goal of running a 10K a day for the month of August, then found out several days ago that she had an operable brain tumor, that could be removed.  So, all smiles, she had her head shaved, gave us a "Hey guys, going in for brain surgery, see you on the other side!" post, and got it done.  She's inspiring and has a great attitude, and came out of it already (46 stitches later) and is starting PT tomorrow!  A bunch of us decided to tally our miles and call them "Miles for Madi," so there you go...

My "Miles for Madi!" singlet :)

It was warming up quickly and I felt it as soon as the race began.  The first mile I crossed in 6:58?  The second mile had two small hills, and was my slowest mile at 7:13.  Mile three, I knew I was on the bubble for a PR (I peeked at my timer), Strava had me in at 6:55, with a final kick of 6:34 to the finish.  My time according to the results posted was 21:57 and 75th place, one second off a PR, but they weren't using chip timing so I beg to differ.  Strava has me at 21:44, at a 7:01 pace for a 5K PR, and from the looks of things if I'd kicked it in a few seconds sooner, my pace would have been sub-7?  Either way, I'm pretty stoked...and Jonny PR'd as well, coming in at 19:40!  37th in a fast field of runners, awesome.  Colburn came in at 48:27, the guy is a machine at 79 years old.  And Tim?  For his first 5K?  Came in at 29:02, a fantastic result and I'm pretty sure he's hookednow ...totally my fault, of course!!!

Tim finishing his first 5K, with son Christian pacing him.  Go Tim!  Thanks Christian!

Colburn Graves finishing strong

After the 5K was a 5 mile race, and while that was going on, I ended up chatting for a while with men's 5K winner Will Sanders, who was in a pretty talkative mood, and was keeping tabs on the 5M race with his timer and giving me updates on eventual mens winner Sam Alexander, who blazed through in 24:25???  If I fell down a mountain I couldn't get going that fast...

Men's winner Samuel Alexander

So overall, a great day.  If I start paying closer attention to my time coming in, I think I could kick it into my fastest gear sooner and hit more PR's, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making!

Weekly Log 8-5 to 8-11

The Kerri race is in the books, and I now have a ton of new short-distance PRs to beat!  The weather this morning is cool and perfect, low 60s and low humidity, and reminds me that I need to seriously start looking at the Fall racing season, and perhaps settle on a long-distance race.  I'm signed up for the Surftown 1/2, but beyond that I don't have a marathon commitment yet.  Still thinking about Nipmuck, think I could smash my time from last year (6:15)...what to do, what to do...I know my training is loads better than it was, but still much to improve on.  Either way, there's still time to decide.  For now?  Miles...trail and road, but more trails if possible!  Oh, and the beach :)

Monday, 8-5 - 0 Miles - 1 hour karate, stretching, and dismantling the heavy cedar playground in the backyard, which was solidly built, to say the least:

Coming down, but had a good run...damn thing is heavy, too!

Going to try to use the wood for something else, and definitely keeping the hardware for other projects.  In its place will be a circular fire pit, with a stone path from the deck.  Details to follow.  In the evening I got out my etched Bimbler's Bluff 50K finisher's pint glass (designed by the fabulous Cathi Bosco!), poured in an ice cold Lagunitas IPA and gave some more thought to the Fall marathon possibilities...

"Implausible is Possible..."

Tuesday, 8-6 - 3.1 Miles (Road) - Dogwatch Fun Run with local friends/runners.  Love the fun and friendly atmosphere at this fun run in Stonington Borough.  Got to the Dogwatch Cafe in plenty of time, and ran into quite a few familiar faces.  Chatted, and skipped the warmup run, as some-body said there wasn't time...went out easy and took it easy, and even with a stitch in my side at mile 2.25? I ended in 23-change...not setting the world on fire, but not slacking either.  

After the run, on my way to change shirts (so as not to offend the straights on the deck), this dude cruises up to me and starts asking me about the Westerly Track Club...I talk to him for a bit, and then he says "Oh, my name's Amby."  Oh, as in Amby Burfoot???  Ummm...my name's Mike. So we walk and talk local running, the club (dammit!  where's my applications!), all kinds of small talk about where we're both from and how we both ended up here.  The winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon and, more recently, Runner's World writer/editor/documentarian is asking me stuff about the local running scene, since he recently moved back here...does it get much cooler than that?  Well, no, no it doesn't, and I was probably jabbering away, per my usual, but he didn't seem to mind.  Next up?  Drinks on the deck, talking races with complete strangers, great time!  Hung out with BLS and her post-weekend cooldown run/decompression; Mike B. who did track work this morning and still ran a 20:02; and local legend Colburn, among others, who might be running the Bobby Doyle race on Sunday with me.  Great night!  And thanks again to Heather and Stephen Bessette, another awesome running Bessette family, for organizing this series.  To have local residents standing on their decks cheering on people at a fun run is something great to see, and much appreciated!!!  Great night.

Wednesday, 8-7 - 7.5 Miles (Road/Beach) - Misquamicut roads to beach, beach to Watch Hill, roads back to Misquamicut loop with Jonny E.  Jonny, one of our local fast kids, asked if I was up for a run this week, so I said sure, why not?  Met down at his neighborhood and made the run down to Misquamicut - it was high tide, but we decided to run the beach 2 miles or so to Watch Hill, then hit roads for the trip back.  Good weather today, although more humid than previous days.  We kept a conversational pace and talked throughout the run, very cool.  You have to appreciate the commitment of a teenager who chooses to train consistently.  Great run!

 

Officially registered for the Bobby Doyle race, 5K option.  Was on the fence about whether to do the 5M or 5K until I talked to Colburn at the fun run, and he said he'd be interested in running it.  Should be a great way to start the day on Sunday, 9 a.m. start!

Thursday, 8-8 - 0 Miles - Weight training and stretching.

Friday, 8-9 - 5 Miles (Trail/Dirt Roads) - Green Falls to Dinosaur Caves to Hidden Lake loop with Jonny E.  Pouring rain, instantly soaked and muddy, good times!  Easily one of my favorite places to run, technical, scenic, and the distance of the loop can be adjusted according to how many miles you're looking for.  Jonny hadn't been out here to run before, it's definitely a different type of trail but I'm pretty sure he liked it:



Saturday, 8-10 - 0 Miles - Beach day, ready for a run, but our wave drought has ended!  Surfed chest high beachbreak closeouts, for about an hour until the wind came onshore.  Drop in, make the turn and get destroyed.  Good stuff.  Lots of paddling against the current, too, just to stay West of the No Surfing zone at Seaside.

Sunday, 8-11 - 4 Miles (Road) - Warmup/Bobby Doyle 5K - See separate write-up!

12th Annual Run 4 Kerri

Previous results:

2009:  412/883  37:54 @ 9:29
2010:  287/810  34:30 @ 8:38
2011:  204/470  36:48 @ 9:12
2012:  197/693  33:48 @ 8:28...

Drum roll, please................

2013:  100/729  28:30 @ 7:08 average!!!  Holy crap!  How'd THAT happen???

Results here:  http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/ri/Aug4_12thAn_set1.shtml

To say I'm happy about this would be an understatement.

I arrived nice and early for the race, and the weather couldn't have been any better today:  partly cloudy, low 70s, and a nice northerly breeze.  Chatted with a few people and then did a quick warmup run on the tail end of the course.  Ran into Elizabeth Eckel, Jana and Jeff, and a few other people right before the gun, and took a quick picture of the lineup:

700+ runners today!!!

Saw Jeff lined up at the front with the other elites (including Olympian Julie Culley, who won the women's division), and wished him luck.  He smartly told me not to line up too far back, one of my dummy moves that I almost always make.  I lined up just about right today.  Thanks, Gazelle!

Gun goes off and I stick to my game plan.  At the mile one mark I see two things.  Muddy taking pictures for Level Renner, and the clock reading 7:15...perfect!  I give Muddy a shout and he tells me my pace looks smooth.  Sounds good to me...I figure if I can keep this pace until the uphill shot at mile 3, I'm solid at going sub-30 minutes.  Mile 2 time gets called at 14:35?  Really?  Cool!  Mile 3 includes the loooooonnnng straightaway that goes past Theater by the Sea, and it's pretty warm out by now, and full Sun.  I figured I was ahead of the game going into the hilly (sort of) part of the race, and that I'd make up any slowdown in the last 1/4 mile, which is mainly downhill/flat.  Mile 3 time is 21:40!  Gravy from here, and I finished strong.  My best, smartest run race ever, and I did exactly what I set out to do, breaking every PR I had from 400m to 4 miles, and shaving 4 full minutes off my PR for this distance.  Beyond excited after the race, and got to chat with my fellow WTAC'ers (and a few Turtles).

Took a dip under the fire hose they'd set up:

Fire Hose!  Great picture.  Photo by Jana Walker!

PR's all over the place!  Gazelle, Amanda (Seth's better half), and I'm pretty sure a few others smashed their goals today.  Props to Jeff and Matthew, who just competed in the Block Island Tri the previous day.  Great showing by the WTAC, too, with at least 7 runners in the top 100?  And I won two tickets to the Seaport Museum in the raffle they had, some icing on the cake!  Great event put on again by the Bessette family and the whole Run 4 Kerri crew and volunteers (and SK Police for directing traffic!), can't say enough good things about all of you guys :)

After wrapping up with the crew, I headed down to the beach to meet the family, where I ended up doing another 3 miles with Mike B., who was doing his weekly run to Ms. Swift's house:



So another fantastic day of running, great beach day with Lori and Sophia, and I'm on Cloud 9, as they say...time for a burger and a beer!